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Rufous Hummingbird - San Angelo Tx USA (1 Viewer)

SanAngelo

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Still getting use to navigating the Forums.

Last week I woke to find a Rufous Hummingbird at my front yard feeder. I was completely in shock and overcome with joy at the same time. I've been here 13 years, it's the first Rufous Hummer I've had. Normally, in the spring the Ruby-throated come through followed by the local Black-chinned. Then in the fall the Ruby-throated show up and push out the Black-chinned.

Well, the Rufous stayed only one day but it was his feeded, he owned it..!! He was a feisty little guy, much more aggressive than the Ruby and Black-chinned. He hung around all day, last I saw him was a little after 5pm, sunset was around 8:20pm.

I check eBird, were I don't presently have a registered account, the last recorded sighting for Tom Green County was in July 2006. Found that very interesting..!!

I've have a very large number of hummingbirds this year. Last year a tornado came through on the north side of town, the wind storm hit my area and blew down my 30 year old faux Mulberry Tree. That was in July. In October I planted 3 Desert Willows purchased from a nursery. They were about 5 feet tall, 2 now are at about 7 feet and one about 6 which is the Bubba Desert Willow.

Anyway, they've been blooming all summer. The hummers spend their day fighting over ownership; first the male Black-chinned and then the male Ruby taking on all interlopers.

I had to cut down my rear faux Mulberry a couple years ago. Never got around to landscaping but this summer's hummer activity convinced me to put in a Desert Willow. Got it picked out, it's going in this October.

Here's the before and after pictures.

I put out only water and hummingbird feeders, no seed. Being in west Texas there's always a water shortage issue. I take advantage of that by not watering the lawn. All the birds love it that way.

Back to the Rufous.....I miss him but he sure brought me a lot of happiness during his short visit.

Sorry, no picture of the little guy.

Besides putting this in the Your Rarities Forum, I'm going to cut and paste this post putting it in the Gardening Sub-Forum and in the Hummingbird Forum. If that's not allowed, I apologize. To the mods, please delete the unacceptable cross posts. Thank you.
 

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Sounds fantastic, all those hummers. Can completely relate to that experience of finding a new bird on your doorstep. Just thinking about your water shortage and that lawn. You might want to consider some permaculture principles. Personally I would plant the whole lawn with wildlife attracting plants, if you choose drought tolerant species and mulch them heavily they will need very little water.
http://permacultureprinciples.com
 
Earlier this month, 9 April, once again a Rufous Hummingbird graced my feeders for a three day stay on his way north. This was a rare sighting for Tom Green County Texas, the only recorded Spring visit on eBird although there are 8 other records for Fall visits.

South of San Angelo, in Christoval Texas, there's a hummingbird feeding and ringing station. Local records indicate seven being banded in 1995 between July and September but no mention of months prior to July.

On the West Texas ringing sites, I've found records for Fall and Winter visits but no Spring. If anyone looks over these sites please let me know if I'm wrong, if I missed something.

Although the data on the these sites are somewhat dated I do know they are actively ringing. I suspect entering data, up-keeping the blog is the problem.

West Texas Avian Research Inc
The Hummingbirds Of West Texas
Concho Valley Bird Banding

Since the OP, August 2015, I had one other Rufous or Allen hit my feeders this past Fall; 28 Sep 2016.
 

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